Good conversation about the impact of the ecomony on learning and learning systems yesterday.  When the audience was questioned about the impact of the economy on budgets the responses were that budgets were not being impacted by at this time.

At the beginning of the year several big learning system deals were stalled but those deals had been released towards the end of March.  Overall there was a real feeling that a move to a purchase model which minimized the upfront expense to clients was going to be very important.  Monthly contracts that limited the exposure over a three year period to less than $300,00 we going to be the most likely deals to be done over the next twelve months.  This idea of the sub $300k deal is not new, but i think we will see this expanding as more mid-size businesses grow and expand their need for training.

Enterprise deals are changing as well.  Again, the idea of minimizing the upfront dollars is going to be important.  It is very apparent that people are still buying new systems and replacing old learning systems.  The demand for training has become strategically aligned with the business.  This will lessen the impact of the economy on learning.

Pretty interesting stuff.